I beg your pardon; I do give credit for Date's amazing effort. I just thought that, you know, something like that just would never happen in the men's field...and I really hope the ladies step it up, and raise the standard. Baseline bashing all day is only going to give you injuries. Take a leaf out of Henin's book, or Graf's, or even Santoro's.

Ok. I guess the only feasible options for a guy 38 years old (or there abouts) are Agassi or Sampras coming back to qualify for a GS. And that's not gonna happen.

I agree with the baseline bashing. All the players you mentioned play smart. Something lacking these days, I'm sure you agree, on the women's side. I don't like the hit the ball as hard as you can and......the one that happens to make fewer errors (i.e. < 40) wins the match.

I looked it up, Date-Krumm is slated to play 25th seed Kaia Kanepi in the first round. Tough draw. If she gets to the third round she could play Safina.

Date is a very special player. I believe she plays righthanded but is actually a natural lefty, and therefore she plays rather mechanically. She has a slow start, but once she finds her rhythm, she can be lethal.

Her best match was a Wimbledon semi where she was going to beat Graf, if the match had not been interrupted for reasons of lack of light. She was dominating Graf and there can be no doubt that if the match had been played until the end that day, she would have won. As the match was interrupted, and as I mentioned Date is a slow starter, Graf could think over her strategy and start all guns blazing the next day to come back and win the match. This would never have happened if they continued playing the day before.

She first announced her return to the pro tour after beating Steffi at an exhibition (which included Navratilova but was sadly less focused on) in Tokyo about a year ago. Back then I didn't think much of it. She played all the big tourneys around Japan, and then won their big national championship pretty handily. I'm impressed...even though I don't care for the women's field at the moment, Date-Krumm is still 38 and deserves all the credit in the world.

She first announced her return to the pro tour after beating Steffi at an exhibition (which included Navratilova but was sadly less focused on) in Tokyo about a year ago. Back then I didn't think much of it. She played all the big tourneys around Japan, and then won their big national championship pretty handily. I'm impressed...even though I don't care for the women's field at the moment, Date-Krumm is still 38 and deserves all the credit in the world.

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Oh ya... any 38 year old who gets through 3 rounds of qualifiers... at a GS event, deserves a hats off.

I actually don't know anything about Date-Krumm's comeback other
than that she played a bunch of smaller tournaments earlier in the
year. There's this Japanese woman that plays at the courts near where I
live who hits super flat on everything. It was very peculiar so I asked her
where she learned to play tennis and she said that she grew up in Japan back
in the day when Date was in her prime so that's how people were taught to
play. I wonder if Date still plays that way.

12 years off is a LONG time. Borg tried a comeback but couldn't beat ANYONE.
She must have stayed in relatively good condition. I hope she gets far
enough to get in a televised match. In would be interesting to see how
hard she hits the ball vs. the current players.

Her best match was a Wimbledon semi where she was going to beat Graf, if the match had not been interrupted for reasons of lack of light. She was dominating Graf and there can be no doubt that if the match had been played until the end that day, she would have won. As the match was interrupted, and as I mentioned Date is a slow starter, Graf could think over her strategy and start all guns blazing the next day to come back and win the match. This would never have happened if they continued playing the day before.

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Dominating Graf? When play was suspended, the match was tied, one set all.

The match was suspended because of lack of light. It was already past 9pm London time. There was no way they could have continued to play under such low light conditions. There are no court lights on Wimbledon Center Court.

Slow starter or not, Date had just as much of an opportunity as Graf to rethink her strategy, including her tendency of starting out slow. She didn't. She lost. That's what actually happened.

Dominating Graf? When play was suspended, the match was tied, one set all.

The match was suspended because of lack of light. It was already past 9pm London time. There was no way they could have continued to play under such low light conditions. There are no court lights on Wimbledon Center Court.

Slow starter or not, Date had just as much of an opportunity as Graf to rethink her strategy, including her tendency of starting out slow. She didn't. She lost. That's what actually happened.

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Graf asked the umpire to suspend play. Initially he refused and then all of a sudden changed his mind. Date was bashing Graf at that moment. She would have won had the match continued.

Date could not change the fact that she is a slow starter. I think her playing righty being a lefty requires her to have some time to get into the groove.

Graf just got lucky that day. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes you need some luck to win, that's all.